


Life with the Jensens

by eternal_moon



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Brotherly Bonding, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, The Jensen Family, The Jensens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-09-02 18:47:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_moon/pseuds/eternal_moon
Summary: A bunch of One Shots about Matt, Lainie, Clay and Justin.





	1. A 'Fun' Night Out

**Author's Note:**

> Summary:  
> The Jensens go to a fancy restaurant together. Lainie and Matt soon find out that it isn't the best place to go to when you're with two teenage boys. Takes place a month after the last episode of season 2.

Clay and Justin were about to leave the house. Clay quickly put a book in his bag, and placed it on his back. Justin opened the door and looked over his shoulder to see whether Clay was coming.

“Dad, we’re going to school. See you later!” Clay walked out of the kitchen, Matt was still sitting at the breakfast table.

“Bye, have fun! Don’t forget to get home before 18:00 PM!”

“18:00 PM,” Normally the Jensen didn’t eat dinner before 19:00 PM. “why?”

“We would go to that fancy restaurant, Eastwoods, this evening. Don’t you remember?” 

“Uhm… I’m pretty sure you never told me about that.” Clay turned towards Justin. “Do you remember them telling us that?” 

His foster brother shrugged. “I don’t think so.” 

“Oh, well, then you know it by now. Be home at 18:00 PM tonight.”

“But I told Zach we would go to the gym together after school.”

“Yeah, and I had plans too. Do we have to come with you and mom, or can we go another day instead? We can just stay home and get pizza.”

“I didn’t say that you immediately have to come home after school. You have enough time to do whatever you had planned to do. Besides that, we booked a reservation weeks ago and we want to have a nice family evening.”

“Fine! I’ll be home on time.” 

“Me too, I’ll tell Zach that we can’t work out for too long.”

Clay and Justin left the house, slamming the door behind them. Before it fully closed, Matt yelled: “18:00 PM!”

* * *

“Justin! What the fuck are you wearing?!”

It was a little past six. Matt, Lainie and Clay were just waiting for Justin to come downstairs, so they could go to the restaurant. 

Justin walked down the stairs in blue jeans with, at least, five stains on it. He wore a deep v-neck shirt on his upper body, showing all his tattoos. On his feet he wore a pair of gym shoes. 

“I’ve been wearing these clothes all day, dumbass! Well, except for when I was at the gym of course. You only just noticed what I’m wearing?” Justin looked down. “What’s wrong with these clothes anyway?” 

Then he noticed what the rest of the family was wearing. Matt and Clay both wore a suit; Matt a gray one and Clay a black one. Lainie wore a long blue dress and a silver necklace. 

“Wait, am I supposed to wear a suit? I’ve never been to a restaurant before, you should’ve told me what to wear, Clay!”

“The word ‘fancy’ in ‘fancy restaurant’ didn’t bring you any ideas?”

Justin stared at the older boy as if he just told him that giraffes are purple. He started to worry; “Is it, like, really bad? That I’m not wearing a suit?” He asked, looking a little upset.

“Honey, no, but it’s... it would’ve been better if...” While Lainie was carefully trying to say that it was not something he should wear to the restaurant, Clay reacted in a much more direct way.

“Yes it is! You’re going to embarrass all of us if you wear that.”

It was clear that all of them thought it was something Justin shouldn’t be wearing, so he gave in. “Fine, I’m going to change.” Justin was about to climb up the stairs to his and Clay’s room, but was stopped by his foster dad.

“No, that will take too long. We’ve booked for 18:30 and we’re already late. Let’s just go and not make a big deal out of it.”

Clay let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Oh, great.” 

* * *

The family was welcomed by a young woman in suit, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She observed Justin for a few seconds, clearly judging him. It made Justin very uncomfortable. Eventually she started staring at his chest tattoo. Justin thought she was about to say something, but then looked like she stopped herself. The woman led the them to their table.

They got a table in the middle of the full restaurant. The table was round and had a white tablecloth on it. The chairs were goldish. There was a white candle in the middle of the table. The same woman who had welcomed the family, handed them menus and told them the waiter would be there in a few minutes.

Lainie and Matt shared a menu and Clay and Justin shared one. Most of the food on the menu was in French. Justin read a few of them out loud. “’Filet de Boeuf Nature’, ‘Pompano Pontchartrain’, I don’t fucking know what all of this is, you?” He turned to Clay, hoping his foster brother would have a helpful answer.

“No, me neither. How are we supposed to order?”

“There’s a description below every dish, boys.” Lainie informed the brothers. Clay and Justin let out an ‘ooooooh’ at the same time, and continued reading the menu. However, the descriptions didn’t make the boys much more excited.

“Duck legs? Who eats that?”

“I know right? They seem to, though.” Justin pointed at a nearby table were two men and two women were eating. 

“Don’t point at people, you idiot!” 

“It’s not that big of a deal. They didn’t even notice me pointing at them. But seriously, how could they eat that shit?”

“I know right, it seems so gross.”

The adults of the family started to get annoyed by their sons’ comments, and Matt decided to say something about it. “Everyone has his own taste, people who like duck legs might hear your conversation. Just try to find something you like.”

“And watch your language.” Lainie added.

The boys stopped their conversation about the duck legs and kept quiet about the rest of the menu. A few minutes later a waiter arrived at their table.

“What would you like to drink?” He asked, holding his notepad with orders.

“I would like to have the Louisville Champagne Cocktail, sir.” The youngest boy told the waiter. “And I would like the Alempue Pro Cabernet Sauvigno.” Clay had trouble pronouncing it, and had never drank it before, but knew that it was some sort of wine. 

“No, we can’t allow that. Both of you should pick something else.”

“But literally everyone is drinking wine here,” Clay defended his choice against his father. “it’s weird if we don’t order alcohol too!”

“Since when do you care about being weird, you’re always weird.”

“Justin you-” Clay was ready to snap back at his step-brother, but before he got the chance to, his mother made it clear that she agreed with her husband.

“No, neither of you is gonna drink any alcohol tonight.”

The boys let out a sigh and started looking at the menu again. The waiter was still awkwardly waiting for Clay and Justin’s order. Matt realized and looked up.

“Both of them will just take water, sir.”

The boys were ready to protest, but the look Matt gave them kept them still.

“Excellent choice. What would you like to drink, sir?” Matt and Lainie passed their orders to the man. The waiter told them that he would be back in a few minutes to bring their drinks and take the rest of their order.

Lainie decided to start a conversation with her foster child, who seemed nervous about getting looks from people for his… fashion choice. 

“So… You’ve never been to a restaurant before, Justin?”

“Well obviously.” Clay replied, before Justin got the chance to say something.

“Clay, I asked Justin.”

“No, I haven’t. It’s not too bad so far, I guess…”

“We haven’t even eaten, let out drank anything yet, how can you already give an opinion?”

“I said ‘so far’, and I didn’t say I was talking about the food? Stop being like that!”

“Like what? You said something stupid, and I just…”

Clay and Justin continued bickering. Their parents exchanged looks and let out a deep sigh. This was going to be a long evening.

* * *

Everyone’s food and drinks had arrived. Clay and Matt had some sort of beef with mushrooms, Justin tagliatelle pasta with lobster and Lainie had chicken with potatoes and onions. Now, Justin didn’t really know table manners, but also didn’t care enough to find out what they are. 

“Get your elbows off the table. Also, don’t wipe your hands off your pants, there’s a napkin right next to you. Don’t you have any manners?”

“Jeez, calm down. I’m already taking them off.”

While Justin removed his elbows from the table, his arm hit one of the glasses of water. It fell over and all the water spilled over Clay. 

“FUCK!” Half of the people in the restaurant, though it felt like the whole restaurant, turned around, giving the family annoyed looks. Some of them were muttering, while still staring at the family. Lainie and Matt looked at their sons with their eyes wide open. 

“Sorry… At least it was just water.” Because of Clay’s angry look, Justin realized that it was better to keep his mouth shut.

A lot of water had dripped from Clay’s lap to the floor. Justin grabbed his napkin and attempted to dry the floor, without much luck. A few staff members had come over at the table.

“No sir, we will clean this up. Something like this can happen anytime.” Even though the man’s words were nice, the tone of his voice and the look on his face made it clear that he didn’t mean any of it. Nobody said anything anymore and tried to quietly continue their dinner while the staff members were cleaning the floor.

* * *

Everyone in the restaurant seemed relieved when the family left, but the family was the most relieved of all. They had decided to skip dessert and just leave a bit earlier than originally planned. They left the place in high-speed. When everyone was back in the car, they all let out a loud sigh.

“Well, that was… fun?” Matt slowly said.

“Yeah. Fun,” Clay agreed with his father.

“Shall we just stay home for the next couple, uhm, years?” 

And that was the one thing everyone agreed on that night.


	2. The Basketball Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin decides to play basketball again, and his new family is very supportive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place shortly after Clay and Justin's senior year starts.

“I need to have this one!“ Clay was just telling his family about a new robot toy that is going to be released within a few days. The whole family was in the living room. The parents of the family were doing their own thing; Matt was reading a newspaper and Lainie a book about living healthy. They barely listened to Clay. Clay didn’t care, he kept talking about the robot and showed Justin a flyer about the toy. Justin’s eyes fell on the price that was at the bottom of the flyer.

“You’re gonna pay 20 dollars for some useless toy? Don’t you have six of those already?”

“It is not some useless toy! It’s the one and only Afoyoid 3.0!” He said as it was the most obvious thing ever. “Oh, and I have seven robots from this collection. Not six.”

“It just sounds weird to me, why would anybody want to pay 20 dollars for that? Maybe I don’t understand it because it’s not my thing.”

“You just don’t get it.”

“Well then what do you like, Justin?” Lainie asked, who had just started paying attention to the boys conversation. “I don’t think we know any of your hobbies or interests.”

“Oh, I guess I don’t really have hobbies. Is watching TV a hobby? Sometimes I like gaming.”

“A hobby that doesn’t include sitting on the couch for hours?”

Justin thought about it for a moment. “With everything that happened, I haven’t been able to focus on hobbies and such. I don’t have any hobbies right now.”

“What about basketball?” Clay asked. “You always seemed very passionate about that.”

“You like basketball?” Lainie was happier to hear that instead of Justin’s own answers. “That’s great, it would be good for you to go play a sport.”

“Hmm. Yeah. Kinda,” The 17-year-old told her. “but it’s been too long since I played it. Besides, I’m not exactly a jock anymore and I don’t want to have to be one of those people again.”

“Uhm, did you forget that Zach is also a jock? And not all jocks are bad? Jeff was also a jock and he was the best.” Clay became a little sad a he thought about his friend who he lost a year ago.

“I don’t want to play it. I haven’t touched a basketball in a year, and I wasn’t even that good.”

“Not that good? You were one of the best players, that’s something everyone at school knew. Okay, maybe you weren’t as good as Zach, but you were the team captain. Meaning, you weren’t only good at playing it, but also at leading and whatever team captains do.”

Matt looked up from his newspaper. “Team captain? That doesn’t sound like something you would become if you weren’t good at it.”

“Maybe not. But I haven’t played in so long, and I don’t-” 

“Justin look,” Clay showed Justin his phone. “Here. I just texted Zach and you should probably listen to him or he’s going to bother you with it for the next couple of weeks.”

Clay had sent Zach: ‘Justin is considering joining the basketball team again, what do you think?’ Zach had immediately answered him. ‘YES TELL HIM TO JOIN THE TEAM AGAIN’ Another text from Zach came in: ‘MAKE HIM’ And another one: ‘WE NEED HIM’.

It made Justin chuckle. He loved Zach’s excitement about the smallest and stupidest things. Zach would hold him accountable for the rest of his life if he didn’t listen to him.

“Thanks. Now I really don’t have another choice other than join the Liberty Tigers again.” He told the older boy with a smile.

* * *

It was Justin’s first basketball game since he returned to the team. It was a home match. They were halfway the game; the break was just over. The other team was from Ridgeview High, a school from a town not too far away from Crestmont. The teams were equally as good, it was very uncertain who would win at this point.

Matt, Lainie and Clay had all come to support Justin. They were sitting in the first row. The bleachers were full of the players’ parents and of high school kids. 

Justin was fast, and agile. Even though he didn’t exactly have the height of a basketball player, it didn’t seem to be in the way. He clearly had a lot of talent for basketball. Justin seemed to enjoy playing it. He also loved going to practice and got upset when he missed one for an AA meeting, a talk with his social worker or for other reasons. Lainie had bought him two pairs of shoes and a basketball; he had been surprised that he didn’t have to buy them himself and was very happy with them.

Close to Matt stood a man with big glasses a training jacket. From what he had seen, he was the trainer from the Liberty Tigers basketball team. He believed the man had also been, or maybe is, Clay’s history teacher. Matt moved a little closer to him. “Can I ask you something? What team are the ones with the black-white striped shirts and hats from?”

The coach turned around and gave him a weird look. “Those are the referees…”

“Oh.” Matt laughed a bit as he turned red from embarrassment. “I don’t know much about basketball. Or any sport.”

“I noticed.” Matt was a little surprised by the rude reaction but decided to ignore it.

“But my son likes it,” He nodded at Justin, “That’s what important.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “…You are Foley’s parents? You never went to any of his basketball games before, did you?” He sounded judgemental, and it didn’t seem like he liked Matt a lot. Matt thought he maybe just doesn’t appreciate people who don’t have anything with sport.

“Uh, sort of; we are his foster parents. We started fostering him a few months ago, that’s why we haven’t been to his basketball games before.”

The look on his face changed a little: it looked a little less disapproving. “Oh. You fostered him? Good, that’s… good.” There was an awkward silence and the man started changing the conversation. “Anyways, we’re glad to have him back on the team.”

“My wife and I are also happy that he is on the team, he seems to like basketball a lot. We were glad to hear about his passion for it.”

“Well, he’s playing much better than first, and he was already good. I was a bit worried he would be out of it, but apparently resting for a year works for him. Talented boy you’re taking care of.”

“Yes. Yes, he is. We have two of them, even.” He looked over at his wife, who had been listening to their conversation. They smiled at each other.

The man changed the subject for the second time in the conversation, as if he suddenly remembered or realized what Matt said a few sentences ago. “Why doesn’t he live with his biological parents?”

“Oh, that’s… My other son, Clay, brought him in and his mother is missing and…” He paused for a second. “It’s complicated.”

“Okay… Has he ever said anything about things that happened in the past? At his home?”

The question came a little unexpected. What does Justin’s basketball coach have to do with that? Matt decided to still answer the question. “He told us some things about his mother, and we know they were very poor. Other than that, nothing significant.”

“Alright.” The man wasn’t exactly satisfied with the answer, but decided to not ask more about it. “Keep an eye on that boy.” 

Matt wanted to tell him that they will, but the man wasn’t listening anymore.

“ANDERSON! TO THE FRONT!” Matt stirred at the loud voice of the coach who was walking towards the field, yelling at players again.

* * *

The game was over, they won with 26 against 23. Six of those points were scored by Justin. He had truly missed the feeling of winning a game; the pride, everyone’s excitement. He looked around; the bleachers were full of cheering people. His eyes fell on his foster family, they were all standing up and cheering. He wanted to wave at them, but was attacked by a tall Zach who started hugging him tightly while also jumping around. Everyone from the team joined in, celebrating their win. He was pretty much being crushed, but didn’t mind. 

Everyone let go of each other and were running or had ran to their families, Justin was still standing on the field. Some of the players patted him on the back and gave him compliments. He heard Clay yell his name and looked up. He noticed his foster family standing at the side of the field, waiting for him. He ran up to them and they excitedly greeted the boy.

Basketball had always been a way to escape from his problems. Hoped for a future. He tried so hard to be the best, or one of the best, so he had a chance at a scholarship. A scholarship would be the only way to be able to go to college. He and his mother obviously didn’t have the money for that. If he would get a scholarship, he would be able to get a good education and a well-paid job. He would become a normal guy, with a normal house and maybe even start a normal family. Something that would probably never happen if he didn’t go to college.

When he heard the tapes, he knew that his chance at a scholarship, his chance at a future, would be gone if the tapes ended up in the hands of someone who didn’t want to keep the tapes to themselves. That person was Clay Jensen. Clay Jensen was this nerdy, skinny kid who would believe everything Hannah said. Who would probably try to expose him and the other people on the tapes. He wouldn’t let that kid destroy his future and his relationship with Jess, so he tried everything to make sure he didn’t. Damn, he even came up with the idea of killing Clay. Now that nerdy kid was like his brother and (although Clay probably wouldn’t admit that) best friend, he gave him a life so much better than it would have been if the tapes never existed. He now didn’t only have a future, but also loving people around him and a real home and family.

Justin never knew how much fun basketball is if you didn’t have those worries he had before. Now, he didn’t have to play it to have a future. He didn’t have to play it so he didn’t have to think about his homelife. Now, he had a family cheering for him. A family he would go home with after the game. A family that’s everything he ever wanted.

This was the best feeling in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the reasons why I only write oneshots: because it's been 84 years since I last posted. 
> 
> Hope you liked it! If it wasn't clear who the man Matt talked to was; it was coach Patrick. Coach Patrick always seemed to be pretty worried about Justin, and I find him pretty interesting because of that. If you don't remember: Coach Patrick told Mr. Porter that he thought Justin had been abused at home, and also made it clear a few times that he likes Justin and is worried he's not doing well. That's why he became a little nicer to Matt when he told him he was his foster parent and why he asked those questions. Matt only knows that Amber is a drug addict here and not about much else of Justin's past btw.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I had a lot of ideas for short stories about Justin living with the Jensens, I decided to just make a fanfiction full of them! 
> 
> Sorry for all the spelling and grammar mistakes, I'm trying to improve :)


End file.
